About 16 months after Zellers vacated Tecumseh Mall, the 114,000-square foot space that used to house the department store remains empty.

“We don’t have anybody, yet,” said Debra McVeety, mall general manager. But, McVeety said she was confident a new tenant would be found for the mall, which is “important” to the local economy.

“We’re in conversations with some big box retailers,”McVeety said without elaborating. “We have a very strong group of people dedicated to working on this property.”

Zellers closed its doors in March, along with other stores across the country. Several, including the location at Devonshire Mall, were taken over by Target Canada.The Zeller’s store at University Mall on Huron Church re-opened as a FreshCo grocery store.

The former Zellers location in Leamington is also empty, said Wendy Parsons, general manager at the Leamington District Chamber of Commerce.

The vacant Zellers building on Erie Street South in Leamington is pictured on July 14, 2014. (DYLAN KRISTY/The Windsor Star)

Tecumseh Mall also is facing the imminent departure of the 48,000-square-foot Sobeys grocery store in September. While a “terrible blow” for Sobeys workers, the timing of the grocer’s closure is fortuitous since discussions with prospective tenants have been under way, said McVeety. “There is an awful lot of focus on Tecumseh Mall,” she said. “I’m confident we’ll be able to fill both locations.”

“It’s tough right now; Windsor is a challenged city,” added McVeety. “It just takes some time.”

Other retailers at the mall, including Shoppers Drug Mart, East Side Mario’s, LCBO, and Mark’s Work Wearhouse, are thriving, she added. “They’re are all doing very well; we have a full-service food court that is doing well.”

Like other venerable retail outlets, Tecumseh Mall, which has been a fixture in the city for 40 years, is experiencing “short-term pain,” said McVeety.

“Retail has to continue to evolve as consumers become more sophisticated and as the marketplace offers more and more choices,” she said. “Department stores are changing in response to consumers, but are they leaving? No. They’re here to stay.”

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